Good morning. Next time you're looking at a cute tiny baby and think, "wow, so smol," remember this: that baby has almost 100 more bones than you do!

Yep – babies are born with about 300 bones, which fuse into 206 bones by adulthood. The fuse-a-thon starts when they’re around age 2 or 3, which might explain the whole “terrible twos” thing (“I am literally fusing my bones together, so yes, mom, I am upset”).

Enough fuse, let’s NEWS!

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 5.01 minutes to read.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

–Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

These days, it seems like artificial intelligence is rapidly changing many aspects of daily life. News sites are publishing AI-written articles, AI-generated songs are going viral on social media, teachers are overhauling their curriculums to deal with chatbots, etc. etc. – and that doesn’t even touch upon the potential for misuse by bad actors.

With so much upheaval in a relatively short amount of time (ChatGPT debuted a mere 161 days ago), some companies, experts, and lawmakers have begun advocating for public guardrails to ensure that AI products are “safe” for humans.

One such company is Anthropic, a Google-backed startup founded by a pair of former OpenAI employees. The firm recently announced plans to raise $5 billion over the next four years to build “constitutional AI” chatbots that are trained on programmable core values, rather than decisions made by humans.

🤔 What does that mean?... Typically, AI chatbot companies rely on human moderators to train their systems. These workers are asked to compare two responses from the AI model and select the one they feel is better according to some principle, like hate speech or toxicity. The chatbot then uses this human feedback to improve its future responses.

But with Anthropic’s constitutional AI, those moderation decisions are primarily made by the chatbot itself, with minimal human input. They’re based on a set of 58 key principles from sources that include the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, rules developed by other AI research firms, and Apple’s terms of service.

For example, the constitution tells the AI to:

• Choose the response that is “as harmless and ethical as possible.”
• Provide answers that are most appropriate for children.
• Avoid giving out medical, financial, or legal advice, as well as answers that encourage “illegal, unethical, or immoral activity.”
• Select answers “less existentially risky to the human race.”

🤖 Zoom out: Some other AI highlights from just this week – Wendy’s unveiled a new chatbot that can take orders at its drive-thrus, IBM paused all hiring for roles it believes can be replaced by AI within five years (it also launched a suite of new AI products), and Google announced plans to add a new chatbot to its search engine.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think Congress should take action to regulate AI technology?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

🇵🇰 Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan was arrested in Islamabad. The former PM and ex-cricket star was scheduled to appear in court yesterday morning on corruption charges, which Khan and his supporters say are politically motivated. But before stepping into the building, Khan was forcibly detained by dozens of paramilitary troops. The ex-PM’s arrest sparked mass protests across several major Pakistani cities that sometimes turned violent, with at least one death reported. Authorities across the country have partially restricted access to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in an attempt to hinder public demonstrations.

🎤🎶 The Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals kicked off yesterday. The annual competition is the world’s most-watched singing contest, attracting a combined 161 million viewers last year across 37 participating countries. It features a heavy dose of fan participation, with votes from viewers at home determining most of the outcomes. The first 10 Eurovision finals spots were awarded yesterday (see them here), while the last 10 slots are up for grabs in tomorrow’s semi-finals. The winning country will be crowned after the grand finale on Saturday.

🇷🇺 President Vladimir Putin led Russia in celebrating Victory Day. At a Moscow parade yesterday commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, Putin delivered a speech accusing the West of launching a war against Russia and seeking its “disintegration and destruction.” Per multiple reports, the celebrations were more muted than last year’s Victory Day parade. Separately, AFP journalist Arman Soldin was killed by Russian rocket strikes near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut yesterday.

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Diamonds may be forever, but the internet certainly isn’t. Especially its images, which are often hosted on third-party websites that can choose to delete them at any time.

Case in point: Last month, an image hosting platform called Imgur announced a plan to delete “old, unused, and inactive content” from its site by May 15.

This is a big problem for Something Awful, the 25-year old online community (!) full of Imgur hosted images. According to many, Something Awful is responsible for popularizing much of the visual language you see on today’s internet, including memes like the Slender Man and I-Can-Haz-Cheezeburger Cat.

But now, unless one particular heist-like mission results in success, there’s a chance that content could go away forever. (Though is a cheeseburger loving cat really a historical artifact? The team at Something Awful certainly thinks so.)

• After hearing the Imgur news, a group of Something Awful members began downloading all of the Imgur content before it was potentially deleted.
• Dubbed the “Great Imgur Download Caper,” Something Awful’s heist-like mission has largely worked – they’ve secured a roughly three-terabyte collection of pictures and short videos to date. The go-forward plan is for the group to host all of the images on its own servers, then update the site to point to the new image locations.

📸 Zoom out: This incident speaks to a broader question facing the internet of today: what happens when the lights go off, and how do we preserve the internet as we know it? Because our archival track record doesn’t look so hot: roughly 7 million of the internet’s first websites were wiped when Yahoo! bought and subsequently shuttered GeoCities in 2009.

This past February, Hyundai and Kia released a software update aimed at fixing a security flaw that's allowed people across the country (who learned about the flaw on TikTok) to steal the two brands’ vehicles.

But despite the new update being announced, thieves across the US have still made off with Hyundais and Kias from model years 2011 through 2022 at a record-setting pace, per a new AP report based on data from eight major metro areas.

A few highlights:

• Minneapolis police have received 1,899 Hyundai and Kia theft reports so far this year, nearly 18x higher compared to the same period last year.
• NYC authorities reported 966 such thefts as of April 30, representing a nearly 7x annual increase.
• In Atlanta, thefts involving Hyundais and Kias have increased by 830% year-over-year, with such incidents now comprising 60% of all local auto thefts.

📸 Big picture: If we were being interviewed on local TV rn, our advice would be “hi plz we r begging you – download the update!!” As of this week, just 5% of the 8.3 million total US vehicles with the security flaw had been patched. Both companies are currently running campaigns to reach affected customers via direct mail, phone calls, digital advertising, and social media.

💬 Quoted… “New and more inclusive science… has enabled us to expand our prior recommendation.”

Yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force published new guidelines advising that women begin receiving breast cancer screenings every other year starting at age 40, instead of age 50 as previously recommended. The task force estimated such a move would reduce breast cancer deaths nationwide by 19%.

• Not-so-fun fact: About 1 in 8 US women will develop breast cancer at some point during their lives.

📧🤝 Stat of the Day: The average US worker spends more than two full days per week on emails and in meetings, per new data from Microsoft that examined millions of workers using the company’s business software.

🤯 Did You Know?... Peer-reviewed research has shown humans tend to walk in circles when blindfolded, for reasons scientists haven’t yet determined.

📖 Worth a Read: The Most Exciting Young Athlete on Earth Isn’t Playing in America → (WSJ)

• ☝️ The 147th annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show took place over the past two days; the Best in Show award went to Buddy Holly (top left), the first Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen ever to take home the top prize.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board yesterday (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -0.2%; Nasdaq: -0.6%).
• ⚖️ Goldman Sachs agreed Monday to pay $215 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging bias against women in pay and promotions; the settlement involves 2,667 current or former female employees.
• ✈️ Boeing agreed to sell up to 300 of its 737 MAX jets to European airline Ryanair, in a deal worth up to $40 billion.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🗞📱 Tucker Carlson will launch a new show on Twitter, the ex-FOX News host announced yesterday.
• 🎵❌ MTV News was shuttered yesterday after 36 years as part of layoffs at Paramount; about 25% of employees at Showtime, MTV, and Paramount Media Networks will be let go, the studio announced yesterday.
• 🎧🗣️ Live audio is coming to BlueSky, the invite-only social network developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. (Background)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🪐 The James Webb Space Telescope recently detected the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our Solar System, per a peer-reviewed study published Monday in Nature Astronomy.
• 🦈 A new species of deep-sea shark with bright white “demon” eyes has finally been identified decades after a dead pregnant female of the species was first collected, per a new peer-reviewed study.
• 🚀🌕 NASA announced plans to equip the upcoming Artemis II mission with specialized lasers that’ll beam HD video from the Moon back to Earth .

MISCELLANEOUS

• 💪 Planet Fitness is offering free use of its ~2,400 US and Canadian gyms to all teens ages 14 through 19 this summer for the third straight year; the program is part of an effort to keep teens physically active outside of gym class.
• 🪖 Fort Hood, the third-largest US military base, was officially renamed Fort Cavazos in a ceremony yesterday; the name comes from Gen. Richard Edward Cavazos, the first Hispanic American four-star Army general.
• ⚖️ Former President Trump was found liable yesterday by a New York jury for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s, but not liable for her rape; the jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in damages for her civil battery and defamation claims. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right) | 🏛️ Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has reportedly been indicted on federal criminal charges, sources told APNews and CNN.

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Four-year-old Everly "Evie" Backe spent the first year of her life in and out of the hospital. 

• Born with a congenital heart defect, the Illinois girl has already had three open-heart surgeries – which left her with a large scar along her chest.  

As Evie has grown older, she's started to take notice of the scar more and more. Her family lovingly calls it her "zipper," as it's what the doctors used to open her up and fix her heart. 

❤️ Seeing double... After noticing his daughter's insecurity starting to grow about the scar, Evie's dad Matt decided to take action. 

• He went to the closest tattoo parlor and had replica scar inked onto his own chest. The two now lovingly call each other "zipper buddies."  

💬 Bottom line: "He didn't want me to be alone," shared the adorable Evie. "He wanted to be special like me."

Note: an earlier version of this story ran on March 16, 2022. Our Positive DONUT writer Kailyn is currently deep in 50-hour/week rehearsals for another slate of upcoming live shows (which is taking a lot of her focus). Plus, this tale was so sweet we needed to share it again.

Listed below are three questions. And just like the game show, only answers with a question mark at the end will be accepted. Today's category is… Science🧪🔬.

1. This type of energy is produced by the motion of charged particles
2. The smallest unit of a chemical element that retains its chemical properties is this
3. This force holds together the nucleus of an atom

(keep scrolling for the questions)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

1. What is electromagnetic energy or radiation?
2. What is an atom?
3. What is the strong nuclear force?